


Practice

by I_Am_The_Circle



Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gratuitous Ghost References, M/M, MCGA Secret Santa, pottery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 05:43:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9221582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Am_The_Circle/pseuds/I_Am_The_Circle
Summary: Frustrated, Alex asks sharply, "Don't you do anything?" This inquiry is received with a moment of cogitation, followed by a grand pronouncement of "No."//After finding out Magnus doesn't do any sort of art, Alex offers to teach him how to make a pot.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my secret Santa gift for dorkabeth on tumblr!

It had started like this: Alex and Magnus, sitting in Alex's room on a Tuesday afternoon. There had been a pretty big scuffle over desert after lunch, so the two of them had decided to head back to Floor 19 to relax instead. In an awkward conversation, Alex had invited the other boy to hang out with him. (In his room. Alone.) Although Alex tries not to show it, he's kind of nervous being around Magnus by themselves. Unsure of what to do, both boys sit next to each other awkwardly in silence, each trying to ignore the heart-pounding feeling of sitting so close to each other.

An unbearable minute later, Alex can't take it anymore and stands up to pace the room, glancing anywhere but Magnus for a distraction. His gaze settling on a pottery wheel in the corner, he mutters a barely audible "A-ha!" and strides towards the wheel with purpose. After pulling the wheel over so it faces the couch and cutting some clay with his all purpose weapon, Alex sits down and begins to ready the clay for the wheel. Without looking back up at Magnus, he asks, "Have you ever worked with clay?" The question drops like a stone into the atmosphere of the room, and Alex chances a glance up at the son of Frey, who doesn't seem to have heard him. Instead, Magnus' gaze is focused on Alex's hands, shaping the wet clay on the wheel.

"Magnus." He tries again, this time earning a "Huh?" from his fellow einherjar, whose face looks rather red. Repeating the question, Alex watches Magnus furrow his brow slightly as if he has to think about it before finally answering, "No."

Plan A dead in the water, Alex scrambles for some other conversation topic, grasping at straws. "Well, do you do any other sort of art? Drawing, painting? Music?" With each suggestion, he watches Magnus' face screw up further, culminating with a shake of his head. (Off topic, Alex takes a moment to mourn the son of Frey's Kurt Cobain hair. What a tragedy.)

Frustrated, Alex asks sharply, "Don't you do anything?" This inquiry is received with a moment of cogitation, followed by a grand pronouncement of "No."

Sighing heavily and struggling not to crush the fragile pot swirling in his hands, Alex silently curses Magnus for being so godsdamned awkward.

Alex makes a decision- he will not be intimidated by talking to a dorky sixteen year old boy, especially considering he is one himself. He will find out what Magnus Chase likes to do if it kills him... Again.

"Everybody does _some_ thing, Maggie."

Alex sees the look on Magnus' face that said: _Don't call me that._ To Alex, though, he just says, "I'm just not a really creative person."

Alex rolls his eyes, but doesn't look up from his pot that's spinning swiftly on the wheel. "You've gotta have some sort of creative outlet. What do you do for fun?"

There's a few moments of silence while Magnus thinks. "I guess I just like reading and watching movies and shows. It's kind of a hard hobby to have while you're homeless, but I managed."

Alex grins, momentarily looking up from his developing pot to look at the other boy teasingly. "Are you telling me your only interests are Doctor Who and Harry Potter?" Magnus sputters a bit, but Alex cuts him off.

"Relax, Chase, I'm just kidding. I know what you mean. I'll tell you what, though- how about I teach you to make pottery sometime, and you'll see if you like it?" Alex hopes his nervousness isn't too apparent, avoiding Magnus' eyes while he waits for the answer.

Magnus responds that he'd love to, and Alex is so excited that he forgets to concentrate on his pot, accidentally squishing it and sending wet clay flying across the room. He's saved from further embarrassment when TJ knocks on the door and yells, "Time for deadly hide-and-seek, guys! Are you coming?"

Alex croaks out an affirmation and races to wash the clay off his hands. By the time they're downstairs with the others, getting ready to hide, his heart rate is finally down to normal again.

***

The next day, Alex stands outside Magnus' door and holds her breath while she knocks. When the son of Frey opens the door, his recently-cut hair is sticking up at all angles and he's yawning as if he's just woken from a nap. Alex's heart nearly stops from how cute it is, but she berates herself and tries to act nonchalant as she invites him over for that ceramics lesson he promised.

When they're in Alex's room, she pulls over her pottery wheel and sits down next to Magnus, pointedly ignoring the hammering of her chest as she leans in to show him how to cut the clay. She's sitting really close to him, and her mind won't stop showing her unhelpful images of Patrick Swayze in Ghost. She almost chuckles over the fact that she is, in fact, dead, before remembering she's supposed to be helping Magnus and that includes not letting him start the wheel on his own for fear of spraying them both with recently wetted clay. After stopping the oncoming disaster, she shows him how to run it, placing his hands on the clay and helping him start to widen the base.

She guides him as he begins to build the pot upwards, hands stalling when she hears Magnus start humming. For all that he claimed not to be creative, he has a pretty nice voice. He could probably be some indie singer with an acoustic guitar, the kind that play half original songs and half acoustic Nirvana covers in coffee shops. She begins to move again so they don't squish the pot. She's got to admit, this is nice- moving together, shaping the short pot with their hands touching. She's almost smiling when she notices what it is he's humming.

She's going to kill him. Really, she is. Alex Fierro is ready to grab her garrote and decapitate him again. The little jerk is humming "Unchained Melody," just minutes after she put thoughts of Ghost out of her head. (Honestly, she's a little impressed too- I mean, it's a hard song. Sure, he's doing it an octave down, but the melody, unchained as it is, is still rather challenging.)

Brushing that thought away, she growls a bit and shoves him. Not enough to damage their pot, but enough to feel it.

"Do you want to die again, Chase? Because if you don't quit with the Righteous Brothers, you're gonna," she threatens, scowling deeper when Magnus cracks up laughing.

"Sorry," he's gasping, in between smug giggles, "Couldn't help myself."

"You won't be able to help yourself if you don't focus on this pot, Mango boy." Naturally, being Magnus, he just laughs harder.

"Mango?" He asks when he regains his breath. "I'm not sure if that's supposed to better or worse than Maggie."

Alex huffs a laugh against the back of his neck, and she wonders if she imagined how he slightly he stiffened afterwards. In their teasing, she's somehow leaned even closer to him and all of a sudden her heart rate skyrockets once again, closer to the speed a sugar-glider's heart might beat than that of a human.

Magnus is silent, and she worries slightly that he could somehow _hear_ her racing heartbeat. She curses the fact that she has this problem at all- she's dead, why should her heart be beating at all? But she supposes a beating heart- telltale or otherwise- is better than an unbeating one. This close to Magnus, Alex can smell lemon shampoo and wonders idly if he can hers- strawberry-kiwi that comes in a pink and green bottle.

By this point, the pot is getting rather tall for a first try, so Alex tries to clear her head and help Magnus widen it to make it sturdier. Their hands slide together easily, and Alex tries to enjoy it less than she really does. Her heart is still pounding at a disco beat, but she ignores it. She's sitting so close to Magnus they're practically touching, her chest nearly pressed up against his back as she helps him sculpt. On an impulse, she moves the last centimeter so there's no space between them and rests her chin lightly on his shoulder. Magnus stiffens a bit initially in surprise but then relaxes, and she thinks she can see him grinning out of the corner of her eye.

They finish out the pot like that, her head on his shoulder, and when the pot is as good as it'll likely get and the wheel is shut off, she leans in and presses her lips to his cheek quickly. He blushes deeply, and she thinks maybe she can hear _his_ heart beating as he hurriedly looks around the room awkwardly for anything other than Alex to focus on.

Alex smiles wide. He's distracted and flustered, looking away from her- a perfect target. Too easy, really. Taking advantage of his inattention, she ambushes him and drags her wet clay-covered hand down his face. He yelps in surprise and flails away before recovering and retaliating by flinging clay of his own at Alex. It lands on her face with a wet smack, and this means war.

Magnus, who's looking rather proud of himself, is hit with another clump of clay and by now Alex is laughing- hysterical, almost maniacal giggles as Magnus sends another barrage her way. It's getting in their hair and on their clothes, but thankfully they're both wearing her Hotel Valhalla shirts today.

Within a few minutes, all the leftover clay is strewn everywhere, covering both kids as well the floor and some of the wall, but neither care too much. They're both laughing joyfully as they end up lying on the floor.

"Well, you can't say you're not artistic now," Alex teases. Magnus rolls his eyes.

"Right, I've mastered pottery completely," he responds, and now it's Alex's mismatched eyes' turn to roll.

"Well, maybe you need a bit more practice," she says with mock deliberation. "We should do this again sometime."

**Author's Note:**

> I just really love Ghost ok


End file.
